FTP Basics

What is FTP?

FTP stands for file transfer protocol. The basic function of FTP is to upload and download files to and from the server. FTP is used mainly in the development of your websites. There are multiple ways to access FTP, click on any of the links below to learn more about the different options for using FTP:

Every IX account has one main FTP user. It is possible to add users to your account and provide others with FTP access. For more information on this check out Creating an FTP Sub-account.

What do I need to connect to FTP?

To connect to FTP you will need four pieces of information:

Host Name (server name)

Username (log in)

Password

FTP Client

Where do I find or change this information?

In order to get this information you should log into your control paneland click on the FTP icon. You will then see a page similar to the one below, that displays the needed credentials.

What is an FTP client?

FTP clients are software that can be downloaded onto your local machine. When you have an FTP client you can remotely connect to your server space with us and to upload and download files. Using an FTP client can be more efficient than using the built in webshell. With an FTP client you have the ability to move multiple files all at once by simply dragging and dropping or with only one click of a button! Finding the right FTP client for you means trying some out, you can find a list of FTP client options at the top of this article.

Virtual FTP – How to enable and create a user

Virtual FTP provides more possibilities than a FTP sub-account. You can give your Virtual FTP users access to more than one directory and specify a different set of permissions for each directory. Virtual FTP users log right into your root and can browse all directories. However, they can only download or modify the files and folders that you allow.

Enabling Virtual FTP

On your control panel page, click the domains icon.

If you have several domains, choose the one you wish to enable virtual FTP for.

On the page that appears, make sure you have a dedicated IP.

Go back to your control panel page and click the FTP service icon. Enable FTP for this domain:

On the next page, add a server name for the new virtual host. This name will appear in the welcome message when guest users connect to your server with FTP clients. Also, enter the e-mail address by which FTP users can reach you with questions or comments.

Add an FTP user

Click the Edit icon for FTP for this domain

Click the Add icon for Virtual FTP Users and create a new Virtual FTP User:

Click the Add icon for Virtual FTP Directories and enter the name for the new Virtual FTP Directory:

End it with a slash, e.g.: Dir1/. The location must be specified relative to root. To create a virtual FTP directory inside a different directory, include the path, for example Dir1/UserDirs/.

On the same page, specify permissions to this directory:

Read: check to allow file downloads from this directory.

Write: check to allow file uploads to this directory.

List: check to allow viewing / browsing the contents of the directory. It is usually used jointly with Read.

Grant Permissions to all users: check to grant these permissions to all your Virtual FTP users. If you leave this property unchecked, you will have to define permissions on this directory individually for each Virtual FTP User.

Click the Edit icon next to the directory you have just created. If you haven’t granted the same permissions to all your Virtual FTP Users, you can specify permissions for each of them individually.

If you have chosen to grant the same permissions to all users, you can skip this step.

Anonymous FTP

This feature allows you to give public FTP access to a dedicated directory in your account. A special directory is created in your root, and its content can be viewed and downloaded, but not uploaded. Anonymous FTP becomes available only after you create a Virtual FTP server.

Configure anonymous FTP

Skip this step if you are already using a dedicated IP.

On your control panel page click the domains icon

If you have several domains, choose the one you wish to enable virtual FTP for.

On the page that appears, switch to dedicated IP.

Skip this step if you have already enabled Virtual FTP.

Go back to your control panel page and click the FTP Service icon.

Enable FTP for this domain:

On your control panel page, click FTP Service, then enable Anonymous FTP for the domain you want.

You can also enable Anonymous FTP on the FTP virtual server page.

Anonymous FTP Upload Facilities

If you want to allow anonymous FTP users to upload files, enable Anonymous FTP Upload Facilities by doing the following:

Enable Anonymous FTP

At the bottom of the FTP virtual server page you will find a new option to enable anonymous FTP upload facilities:

NOTE: This will create a dedicated directory inside the Anonymous FTP directory.

The Uploads (Windows based plans) / Incoming (Linux based plans) directory will have only ‘upload’ permissions, so you can not downloaded or viewing the content.